UI in Daily Life
1. Wake up: iPhone’s alarm app
I get up with the iPhone alarm app.
A. Set an alarm screen
I am afraid of not getting up in the morning. So I set up many alarms when I have to wake up early. I think there would be a better way to set them up because I do not want to set up many alarms one by one.
B. Alarm ringing screen
I found out that the Stop button is smaller and less visible than Snooze button. If you are fully awake, you can read the text of the button and press the Stop button. If you are in a half-conscious state, you might press the big noticeable Snooze button to turn off the alarm and sleep again.
The User Interface has a hierarchy of visibility, depending on the importance of the feature. Typically, Stop button is the primary feature in the screen, but the Snooze button is a secondary function. The designer intentionally misleads the half-conscious state users to press the Snooze button unwittingly. In my experience, when I am not fully awake, I do not even look at the screen properly and press the big yellow button to turn it off and sleep again. A few minutes later, The alarm rings again, and I realize I press the wrong button. I like the idea.
2. Take a shower: shower handle
After I wake up, I just go to the restroom and take a shower. The left image is an off-the-water state. To turn on the water, you turn the lever counterclockwise. If you turn the lever 90 degrees counterclockwise like the right image, it supplies the warm water. If you rotate it counterclockwise from the 90 degrees, the water gets hotter. If you turn it clockwise, the water gets cooler. I find many interface issues of the shower lever.
A. The water temperature sign misleads the user
I thought the sign design was wrong so far. The tip of the lever overlapped the water temperature sign. Therefore, it is easy to make the user think that the tip’s location indicates the current state of the water temperature. Contrary to my expectation, the central axis of the handle points to the state of water temperature. The handle maker should mark on the handle that which side of the handle is pointing at the water temperature sign if they want to keep the water temperature sign. Moreover, the sign leads the user to turn the lever clockwise to turn on the water since the sign is only printed on the upper half, but it is counterclockwise.
B. A single interface for two different functions: temperature of the water, water volume
I think the independent two control valve is far more intuitive than this. When I first used this shower handle, I tried to press and pull the handle because I expected more functions. I can only control the cold water volume, which is turning the lever counterclockwise from 0 to about 70 degrees. When I turn it more than 70 degrees, then the lever regulates the temperature of the water. The weird thing is, I cannot control the hot water volume at all. I think that if I can control the cold water volume, I should manage the hot water volume as well. I think if they have two different functions, it needs an independent interface.
3. Before cook dinner: Horizontal Blinds
When I cook food, I usually open the kitchen’s window. I have to pull up and down the blinds to open and close the window. I broke my first shades because I did not know how to use it.
Thoughts:
To lower the blinds, you need to pull the lift cord to the lower left side. On the other hand, pull the cord to the lower right side to raise the blinds. Raising blinds and lowering blinds are two main features. Pulling lower left or lower right is unusual behavior. However, there is no description of how to use it.
When I used it first, I just tried to pull down the cord. It raised the blinds sometimes. I misunderstood that it was a correct way to raise the blinds, but the blinds were made poorly. Also, I was not able to guess how to lower the blinds.
After learning how to use it, It seems straightforward. Raising and lowering blinds are diametrically opposite features, and the interactions are diametrically opposite. One interaction is pulling lower left; another interaction is pulling opposite way. I think the product needs to describe the primary interaction.
4. Rest on sofa: Reading lamp
I rest on a sofa in the living room after coming back from school. I turn the switch on to turn on the lights after sitting on a sofa.
Thoughts:
This lamp can be switched on and off separately. There are two linear arrays of light switches. The switch module is on the other side of me so that I could not see the switch. I just grab the module and turn the lights on. I need to guess which switch is for which lamp. It is better to arrange the switches in a line just like the location of lamp.
